Historian disputes shipwreck burial claim

Sep. 12, 2008

The S.S. Morro Castle, shown as it ran aground off Asbury Park in 1934.

Written by

NANCY SHIELDS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU

When local history enthusiasts announced plans earlier this week for an observation next year of the 75th anniversary of the S.S. Morro Castle disaster, they gave out information from Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, that said victims of the burning cruise ship were buried in a small West Long Branch cemetery.

But someone who would know, a West Long Branch historian and expert on that borough's cemeteries, said Thursday that is just not the case.

Arthur T. Green II, a careful documenter of the dead, said he knows of no Morro Castle victims buried in West Long Branch. ...